Chaos: The First (2 page)

Erebus was the gloom of Tartarus. 
His gloomy mists blanketed Nyx where he father
ed Charon, Thanatos, and Hypnos
. 
Unlike the incredible burden held by the Keeper of Hell, Erebus sat on the peripherals of Tartarus, offering his brother Tartarus strength when his burdens became too great.  As atrocities on Earth rose, he could not stop his brother from fading into the darkness of Hell and he feared that his brother would altogether disappear.

Charon
, child
of
Erebus
,
was also known as the Ferryman of the Dead, transporting lost souls into the fiery depths of Tartarus. 
His brother
Thanatos was the God of Everlasting Sleep.  When the Fates clipped the thread of life, Thanatos
escorted the souls to the underworld where
Charon escorted them to
Tartarus
to be
judged
.  Evil souls burned in the fires of ash and molten lava whereas those of light were later reborn to fulfill their destiny. 
His last child
Erebus’s
was
the God of Sleep
,
who rejuvenated souls for the trials and tribulations humans
bore
.

Eros
was the force of love,
desire, and f
ertility.
He
was a
beautiful,
golden winged,
joyous God full of mischief
and
responsible for interfering in the affairs of Gods and mortals alike.
Legend has it that that from his mating with
Chaos
,
sprang forth the first mystical beings
; angels
and humans.
H
umans were his children.  They
were
weak and primitive
but he loved them in their innocence and frailty.  H
e sent his
firstborn children, the
angels to look after their brethren.
However, as time shaped his children, he began to turn his back on them as their cruelty flourished.  Their brethren gave silent watch, not yet ready to give up on their less developed siblings whose lives were short yet filled with so much passion,
both
good and bad.

Gaia was the Earth, worshipped by all, human and mythical creatures alike.  She was sacred across the lands. Gaia, also called Mother Earth
,
bore Uranus, the sky and starry heavens without congress.  She later bore Pontus, the sea.  She took her son Uranus as husband
and their
joining was sacred, marry
ing together the Earth and the H
eavens.  With
Uranus,
she bore Acheron, the God of Rivers, Python, the twelve Titans, the one-eyed Cyclops, and the three Hecatonchires, the hundred handed.
After these children, Gaia later bore oth
er children including unicorns
and dragons
however,
her labors were terrible. 
During her labor, the mo
untains
rose; the valleys shaped, and in her pain, deep crevices bore the marks of
her
children’s
birth.  Her labor gave way to the fundamental formation of the
corporeal
world. 

T
he Titans

Of the wombs and loins of the original elements sprang forth creatures with quite human emotions.  They were not evil nor good, they were the elements of balance
,
springing forth from the originals.  The titans were the children of the Earth and the Heavens
and with their
birth;
they came into being as sibling pairs.

Oceanus, Father of River Gods, gave rise to hundreds of species of Oceanids with his bride Tethys, Goddess of the Fertile Ocean.  She bore three thousand children including the sea nymphs. They were a giving, festive, and joyous lot, bequeathing
a
bounty of fish to the land dwellers.  Tethys visited the fresh water springs and lakes leaving gifts of nature’s beauty to the land dwellers.
  Oceanus and Tethys also created Clymene, Goddess of Fame and Infamy.

Hyperion took to wife the
timid
Thea.  Together they
created Helios, the Sun, Selene, the Moon, and Eos, the D
awn.
  Thea also conceived the Cercopes, the trickster monkeys.

Iapetus, Father of Mankind took care of the powerful mountains and was husband to
Themis, one of the two Earth Goddesses. 
Themis was the stern Goddess of Order and Justice, as well as an oracle. 
Iapetus and
Themis
brought into being Atla
s, Epimetheus, Prometheus, and M
enoetius. 
Themis was also Zeus’s second consort where she bore him Horae.

Crius, t
he Ram, took to wife Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory
who
bore Eurybia and Astraeus.
  In an act of betrayal, Zeus seduce
d
Mnemosyne
,
who bore Zeus the nine Muses. 

Coeus, God of Intelligence and Deep Searching Questions married Pheobe, Goddess of Wise Counsel and Thoughtful Replies.
 
Their
daughters were Asteria and Leto.

Cronus
was the youngest of the Titans.  A
fter castrating his Father Uranus,
he
became the Father of the Gods.  With Uranus retreating into the unknown, Cronus and his consort Rhea, Mother of the Gods, became the first true monarchs of the Gods. 
However,
according to the Fates, history would repeat itself and the age of peace and prosperity that civilized the world for thousands of years was to
end
as Cronus
was destined to bear
the same fate as his father.  Cronus and Rhea fathered Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia.  Prophecy claimed that as his father before him, his children would overthrow him.  To avoid the fate of his father, Cronus ate all his children but one, Zeus.  Rhea tricked Cronus
into swallowing a stone so
Zeus escaped his
sibling’s
fate.

The War of the Gods

It was told Uranus was terrified, shamed, and disgusted with the unsightly children Gaia bore him so he locked them deep in the bowels of the Earth.  Gaia endured the pain of carrying her monstrous children and the burden of heartbreak for losing them.  She begged her Titan sons to free her children and rid her of her pain.  They were frightened to go against Uranus, but one rose to the challenge,
the youngest of her children,
Cronus. 

Gaia created a sickle for her youngest out of elements and celestial magic that could slay or maim an original elemental God.  She plotted with her son and when night fell, as Uranus spread him over the Earth and lowered him towards his wife to make love to her, Cronus lashed out with the bespelled sickle and castrated his father, flinging away the genitals. 

Many mystical creatures sprang from the genitals of Uranus’s blood and sperm; some horrific, some mischievous, and others beautiful.  From his blood sprang vengeful gods and goddesses (Giants, Meliae).  From his sperm sprang the beautiful and mischievous gods and goddesses (Aphrodite, Goddess of Love; Nymphs of Ash, Merfolk, Selkie, Kelpie).  Made a Eunuch by his son, Uranus was humiliated and faded into obscurity, a silent watcher of the transgressions of man, God, and creatures. Gaia flourished, becoming mother to all and advisor to some.

Cronus and Rhea were the first who ruled over the Gods.  As promised to his mother Gaia, Cronus released all her children from within the depth of her caverns but they wrought destruction across the land and had to be immediately imprisoned once again.  Under Cronus’s and Rhea’s watch, the world flourished with peace and prosperity.  However, the Fates had a different plan.  As the children of the Titans battled the balance of good and evil within their hearts, a great war was in the making; the war between the Titans and Olympians.

Gods Blood

The war between the Titans and Olympians created chaos in the human realm
as well
.  Their emotions and blood spilled onto earth creating a tidal wave
of
bloodlust. 
The first drops of blood that spilled to Earth mingled with the minerals and matter
creating
the Dragons of the realm.  These creatures were of purity born of the natural elements found on Earth.  Their memories and magic came from the blood of their creators, and their wisdom came
through
the experience of their immortal lives.
They watched as the mortal civilization matured.  They watched the trials and tribulations.  In the beginning they were mentors and friends. Mortals
were a mixture of evil and good, continuously struggling with both.  This began to change as the bad blood of the Gods morphed their innocents into greed, jealousy, wantonness, and hatred. The balance between good and evil became precariously imbalanced.